Graduates Need Marketable Skills

Published: September 18, 1988

Fundamentally, what these newly minted liberal arts graduates are suffering from is reality shock [ ''Brand-New Degree and No Place to Go,'' Aug. 28 ] . For the first time in their lives, they have to get real jobs and support themselves, but no one has told them - not parents, friends, or teachers throughout their 16 years of schooling - that without marketable office skills, they are virtually unemployable.

As a 1974 graduate of Adelphi University majoring in theater (a fun, but useless subject for the everyday business world), I walked straight out of school and into my first job. It was no easier then for a B.A. to find a job than it is now, but my very wise parents had urged me to go to secretarial school at night during my senior year.

With typing and shorthand skills under my belt, I could and did always find work, and was able to explore various career fields in a very short period of time. Eventually, I landed a secretarial job with a shopping center developer and began a 10-year career in real estate. A year ago, I formed a public relations and marketing concern for real estate companies and utilize my office skills to this day.

At the age of 21 or 22, most young people have little to offer potential employers except their enthusiasm, energy and willingness to learn. But no company will hire them, especially for entry-level positions, without the training to do such ''boring'' tasks as typing or word processing, computer programming or bookkeeping.

If the college graduates of 1988 want to go to work, they must first realize that they will not get hired because of who they are or what they know, but rather, for the contributions they can make to their companies. And they will find that principle to be true throughout their careers. JANET WHITE Queens The Times welcomes letters from readers. Letters for publication should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Long Island Weekly, The New York Times, 229 West 43d Street, New York, N.Y. 10036. We regret that because of the large volume of mail received we are unable to acknowledge or to return unpublished letters.